Knights of the Zodiac

[FrostyFoster 451]

Continuing his advance, Wade's colleague caught up with the Local Type. He was correct that the Gunpla had taken damage, giving the two remaining enemies an easier time against them. "Yeah, thrusters and a couple other things are messed up, but I took out the Heavyarms." Noticing the heat shotel, Wade assumed Icarus had done the same with his own opponent. "We better take out that Wing Zero. It's a real nasty one." Wade responded as he changed the ammo on his beam rifle. "Plus, that fight with the Altron is Aker's and only Aker's." He worried about the rage his friend was producing. Aker was connected to this world in many more ways than him and Icarus.

Warnings blared all over the MK II, with Wade watching the gigantic beam head towards him and the shiny Leo. "Oh crap!" The Diver yelled while pulling his Gunpla far to the right, but it was too late. The yellow light disintegrated the shield and everything behind it, leaving singe marks on the left leg. With no left arm in sight, Wade witnessed the true power of this mobile suit. "Nope! You don't get away with damaging my Gunpla like that!" Flipping a single switch, the missile carriers doors all swung open. "This is a gift from the Psycho Exam. I'm gonna use it all on you!!!" Wade launched many dozens of rockets directly at the Wing Zero, not evening stopping as the Local Type kept pushing forward. With Wade having one carrier, it'd only do half the damage last mission's enemy did, but the Diver knew some would still be done.

[Hunter]

The bullets from Altron trailed towards Hunter’s vision and he raised his arms up along with the body of the Astray to try deflecting the bullets from his main cameras. The bullets ate into his meager armor, pain freckled his body from the abuse but he hardly cared. He brought his blade down at the extended arm, hoping to sever the limb at the elbow. As he completed his motion, Hunter pivoted the blade to move in proper sequence and went for a horizontal slash, his angle was low and the blade went for the thighs of the enemy. Hunter wasn’t focused so much on if his blade connected or not; as much as he was focused on his opponent, and how they were reacting to his attacks. 

“Emotions!” Hunter howled out loud maniacally, “are the only thing separating me from you! Your Excellency!” He mockingly addressed Trieze as his blade finished its slice out wide. “My weaknesses are my greatest strengths!” Hunter cocked the blade for an upward diagonal slice from his bottom right to his upper left. Earlier, he could have used his Mirage Colloid, or used his beam rifle longer than he had; but he wanted to teach this bastard something. While the bullets hit and tricked his mind into thinking the pain could be real, in truth he wanted the pain. He need the sensation to ground him to whatever sense of reality GBN was because it was the only thing he knew. His left eye was now completely blood shot, blood poured from both his nostrils. He also wanted the pain, because that was exactly what Trieze would feel if Hunter got this way. It wouldn’t be pretty, he was going to make it slow.

[Judge 221]

Icarus’s proximity alarms screamed at him as a yellow beam ripped through the space between them and the Wing Zero.

“Move,” Icarus cried, wrenching the Leo’s controls in a mad effort to dodge the beam. The Trans Am had given him a slight edge that the MK II Local Type sadly lacked, but even still the Wing Zero’s buster shot tore through the Leo’s already damaged leg and peeled away a significant chunk of the armor on the mobile suit’s right side.

“No time to slow down, Leo,” Icarus muttered to himself. He turned his attention back to his leader, who had unleashed his secret weapon. “Wade, I’m going in close. I’ll try to pull his attention away so that you can try and slip in and catch him off-guard.” Icarus bit his lip. “Just be careful of that thing’s ZERO system. Zechs can claim he’s already seen the outcome of this battle, but he can’t expect the unexpectable,”

With that, Icarus sent the Leo full speed ahead towards the Wing Zero, leading his charge with a few bursts from the beam shot rifle before tossing it and pulling his yellow beam saber as he closed in.

--

Zechs of course, was prepared. The ZERO system had taken account of all possibilities and determined a course of action that, supposedly, would lead him to victory. But even the ZERO system had its limits. The OZ ace had never seen a Gundam like the MK II Local Type before and the missiles came as an even further surprise. An absurd amount of projectiles converged on the Wing Zero and even a pilot as impressive as Zechs Merquise couldn’t prevent damage completely. The resulting explosions enveloped the Gundam, but moments later the machine was ascending out of the smoke, tailed by the remaining salvo.

“Nng…not bad,” Zechs said as he split the buster cannons apart. “But I already told you. Victory is assured,” with a cannon in both hands, the smoking and cratered Wing Zero revolved as it released a sustained beam from each. The missiles that followed were eaten by the beams.

Icarus had to make an emergency manoeuvre to avoid the beams and by the time he had pulled his beam saber, Zechs was ready with his own, meeting yellow with green.

“The Leo is an admirable machine,” the masked man smiled. “But it is nothing compared to a Gundam”

--

Treize, too, was smiling. This was exactly the kind of challenge he had been looking for.

“Whoever you are, you strike me as a true warrior. It fills me with regret to have to bring an end to you.” Treize spun his machine away as the Jager attempted to swing at the extended dragon fang. Nevertheless, the Gerbera Straight managed to slide through the tip of the dragon head moments before the pilot could retract it. “Impressive. In the interest of making this a fair fight, I should tell you about my mobile suit’s capabilities. It comes equipped with a piece of technology called a Fighting Sight. It allows me to instantly calculate the precise position, movement, and weak points of your machine. I thought that would give me an edge—but it seems you have your machine has its own secrets.”

As if to emphasize his point, Treize let the Astray’s katana slice through his legs, using the opportunity to thrust his trident at the Jager’s right shoulder and then dash backwards away from his opponent. His eyes narrowed, however, when something flickered behind the Jager.

“Une—stop,” he cried. But it was too late. The Deathscythe Hell, wielding its weakened weapon, uncloaked behind the Jager Astray. Une brought the weakened scythe back and took a wild, crazed swing at the Jager’s head.

 

[FrostyFoster 451]

The missile pod jettisoned, slowly floating away from the Local Type's backpack as Wade watched in awe. "He didn't even flinch! What am I supposed to do now?" The battle had turned into close combat with Icarus and Zechs locking sabers, and the Diver wasn't even sure how Aker's fight was going. Wade sighed, deciding to head towards the Wing Zero. The Fleurs leader wasn't doing a good job working with his teammates. Their NPD was gone and the enemy pilots just seemed... better.

"Why did I have to mess up and start this team?" He faintly uttered, screeching to a halt in the depths of space. "These two would've done better on other teams with a leader that could actually lead..." Wade thought back to his times at UNIVERZ, when it seemed to him like Chris could do nothing wrong. However, even through the Diver's rose colored glasses, he knew his old leader made plenty of mistakes.

Wade slammed his fist down on the controls, noticing that he accidently made his gatling guns flip back up. That's when the perfect idea came. "Zechs can claim he’s already seen the outcome of this battle, but he can’t expect the unexpectable,” With Wade recalling his friend's guidance, he knew what he had to do. "Yeah, just keep him busy!" Wade finally responded to the Leo pilot. "I got a really good idea!"

[Hunter]

Trieze’s trident dug into the Astray’s right shoulder. Armor exploded from the impact and electricity fizzled around the joint. The strike pushed back his already poised arm further making the Katana angle behind Aker more than intended. Perhaps it was Trieze’s cry of caution or maybe it was the Alaya-Vijana, Aker couldn’t be certain; but he did sense Lady Une approach him from behind, and he braced.

Hunter couldn’t restrain his own yell of surprise as the Scythe swiped for his head, the weapon would have cleanly swiped his head had it not been for his beam saber still mounted on his backpack. Still the weapon hit him hard, his beam saber snapping off and his head getting deformed, the beam dying just as it ate into the metal. Hunter’s displays flickered as the cameras switched to auxiliary ones, and he cringed as he felt the phantom blow across his head. As he clenched his teeth though he kept his gaze locked on the Altron. The real reason the swipe didn’t cleanly cut through him was because of his katana poking behind him, the blade digging into the cockpit of the Deathscythe. 

While the blow was somewhat sobering, Hunter was still livid. “Tell me Trieze… do you feel emotions? If so what do you feel right now?” As he asked he twisted his katana then kicked away from the fizzling mess behind him. He didn’t have to look behind him to know that he killed her, he could feel sense it all at that moment. Alarms blared from the damage he he incurred, and Hunter checked his displays to see his right arm was likely going to have some mobility issues. Right now it was little more than a stabilizer for the other hand to use the katana with. Obviously his head was out of commission even if it was still attached. At this rate he might just end in a draw the pompous bastard, and Hunter just couldn’t have that. 

The katana was still poised behind him and he thought of how he could bring it around to block or attack. It likely wouldn’t be quick enough given his opponent. Still he had a couple things going for him at that moment and he meant to capitalize. “I know how much you cared for her… what kind of monster lets his woman die for him in battle?” He had to break the man in more ways than one, as he talked he slowly moved his left hand towards his right hip. “The same kind of man who would have a bastard child with a different woman?” He knew as soon as he began moving he was committed, his left hand eased its’ grip on the katana hilt, almost looking like he was repositioning his grip. “Who am I kidding, you didn’t care, she was just another notch on your bedpost wasn’t she? You’re just a cad after all…”  He taunted out loud as he activated his Mirage Colloid slowly, his left leg began to shimmer away as the cloak uncharacteristically began to slide up both his legs. He knew he had to get Trieze to react for his plan to work, he had to make the man angry, irrational. Get me you bastard! Hunter willed silently as he poised for his counter. 

[Judge 221]

“Will do, boss,” Icarus said as he stared across at the face of the Wing Zero. “And Wade—don’t lose heart. You’re doing just fine. Just remain focused and we can still win this thing.”

“Enough of the quaint words of encouragement,” Zechs said, pressing harder on his saber. “You can’t win this fight,” The Wing Zero’s Vulcans whirred to life, a steam of bullets colliding with the Leo’s armor. Inside the cockpit of the custom grunt, began to blare once more.

“Don’t count us out just yet,” Icarus gritted his teeth. Then, something deep within his suit shifted and the Leo seemed to sigh with exhaustion. The red glow of the GN drive subsided and the suit lurched backwards, the Wing Zero’s beam saber pushing the Leo’s own saber into its chest. “Damn it, damn it,” Icarus’s eyes widened.

Talk about bad timing…but all I have to do is hold him off long enough for Wade to make his move.

Icarus pulled the Leo back as fast as he could, the machine now sporting a mighty, melted gash on its torso.

How much do I have left?
Icarus reached the Leo’s arm down and grabbed one of the two armor schneider knives in its hip sheath. With knife in one hand and yellow beam saber in the other, Icarus knew what he had to do. “Oh well,” he said to himself with a wry smile. “I guess the streak continues,”

The Wing Zero had turned away to try and pin down Wade with its buster cannons, but Icarus couldn’t allow that. Pushing the Leo Chevalier to its absolute limit, Icarus charged forward, his beam saber leading the charge. Zechs turned his mobile suit around just in time to intercept, the barrel of the twin buster cannon already glowing.

“I just…have to…make this count!” utilizing the GN Drive’s superior mobility, Icarus angled the Leo parallel to the beam as best he could, feinting with the beam saber so that he could drive the knife into the eyes of the Wing Zero. A bright light filled his cockpit, forcing Icarus to close his eyes and throw his arms up in front of his head.

When he opened them again, he was looking out into space, not by way of the Leo’s cameras, but with his own eyes. His cockpit cover had been sheared off by the buster cannon and, as he poked his head out of the suit, he saw that, indeed the entire front of the Leo had been smoothed out. It was a miracle it hadn’t exploded—yet, at least. Icarus tried at the controls, but when his machine didn’t move, he was forced to abandon ship, kicking off the arm of the custom Leo and trying to create as much distance between him and the battle. He took one small moment to appreciate his handywork though—there was an armor schneider embedded in the eyes of the Wing Zero.

“It’s all you now, boss,” Icarus said to himself as he floated in the darkness.

--

A cold sensation washed over Treize Khushrenada as he paid witness to the sight unfolding before him. The Deathscythe had appeared behind the Astray, took its swing, and then simply stopped short. Sparks began to spit from the machine and, as his opponent kicked its lifeless chassis away, Treize knew immediately that the Deathscythe had been felled and Une, it’s pilot, killed.

His opponent began to speak, but the words simply melted away into the background of Treize’s thoughts. Une was dead. Une was dead. The man’s smile fell away and his mouth became a firm, grim line. His face twitched, not once, but twice, and his hands reflexively tightened their grip on the Altron’s controls.

“You…” he said, quietly. “You…you’ll pay,”

His heart throbbed, the sound of his blood rushing deafening him. He wanted to yell, but to yell now…

“You’ll pay,” he growled. His face was burning. Treize pushed the Altron forward with as much energy as he could, leading with his shoulder mounted shield, the tip of his trident close behind. But as he neared his opponent, the Jager simply…disappeared. Treize stopped short, clenching his teeth.

“Show yourself, you coward,” he cried, turning his suit in circles in an attempt to pre-empt his opponent’s sneak attack. “Fight me with honour, damn it!”

 

[FrostyFoster 451]

It seems that an extreme amount of luck had fallen on the Fleurs member's laps. The Wing Zero, now blinded by Icarus' knife, had no chance of surviving Wade's next attack even though it had just taken out its last attackers mobile suit. Thankfully, the Leo hadn't exploded, Wade watching his teammate float away from the two. With no GAME OVER for Icarus, the Fleurs leader had to finish this once and for all.

"Time to slice and dice!" Wade yelled, quickly pulling the machine towards him. The Diver knew he had to be careful. The enemy may be blind, but it could still attempt to resist. Hugging the machine close, the Local Type's sub arm folded open to reveal its knife once again. With only one regular arm to hold the two together, Wade slit through each limb connecting to the torso. The constant struggling of the Wing Zero slowly began to stop as Wade jammed the knife multiple times into the backpack of the mobile suit.

The Diver relished in their victory against the Hard + enemy, giving it a final punch in the ZERO system's cockpit, cracking the green light down the middle. "There, now you can live with Noin..." Wade stated while the limp mobile suit floated away from him. Part of him wondered why he cared about saving these NPDs. It wasn't like their decisions carried over to other missions. However, the other part of him was reminded of Aker. Maybe their lives did carry on in some way...

[Hunter]

“You gave up your honor when you struck down Lunamaria…” Hunter’s voice was solemn if not eerily calm. Trieze’s panic at the vanishing Astray was short lived as the suit flickered back into sight, practically in the same location. That sense of panic, fear, emotion; was everything that Hunter was hoping for. As Altron rushed for him, Hunter quickly moved in reaction. With the Alaya-Vijana he was able to duck in and dive under the attack easily.

As he ducked in, he brought forth his metal saber from his right hip and drove it into the joint wielding the trident. “Now you know!” Hunter shrieked out with sadistic glee, “now you know what it’s like to feel don’t you!?” He left the saber in the limp joint and reached out to pull out a beam saber with the same left hand, his right still clutching the katana lamely. With the flushed blade he struck down over head, his slice cutting deeply into the Gundam from the collar bone region towards the opposite armpit. He missed the cockpit on purpose, only grazing it.

“And now your excellency!” Hunter cried out with a rattle in his voice. The Astray cocked back the beam saber to impale the cockpit. Ever so slowly he began to bring the tip of the beam into the metal, eating away the only protection offered to Trieze. “Suffocating is too kind for you… I want you to see your end!” Hunter roared out as he inched the blade forward little by little.

It was then that something caught his eye then, a glimpse of the battle his two friends were concluding with Wing Zero. He saw how they struggled, the damaged Leo and Wade attacking the seer like mobile suit. What Aker saw a glimpse of was compassion, as the duo sparred the pilot. It was at that moment he realized killing Trieze wouldn’t give him satisfaction. He paused the slow pursuit of the blade and held it there for a moment, hardly caring if it did accidentally kill the aristocrat. He had scolded Treize about not being noble, and yet here he was hardly acting as such. How could they sport the name of Fluers de Noblesse if he himself couldn’t act in accordance with their own namesake. He let out a shaking breath and eased his hands from the controls, making the blade shimmer off. “Bury them both…” he said quietly, of course he didn’t know what happened to this “world” after their mission, but he hoped that Trieze understood, for whatever that was worth.

Tears welled in Aker’s eye’s as the words “Mission Accomplished” appeared on this screen. Before they could get hefted out of the area, he was already entering commands in his menu. As Fleurs De Noblesse reappeared in the oil rig, Aker was no where to be seen.

--------

Aker floated in the hangar of his secret space base, looking at the face of the Jager in odd angles. One arm was draped around his own body while the other floated helplessly by his side. Was it all worth it? Was this what his existence was being paned out to be? He thought of Lunamaria and how she was summoned only to die, a mere play thing. “Am I nothing more than that to Wade? To Icarus?” shaking his head, he brought his right hand up to his face, looking at his tensing fingers.

He wasn’t surprised to find out that his left arm was now completely unresponsive. From now on he would likely be engaging the Alaya-Vijana whenever he got in the cockpit if for no better reason than to feel his arm again. “Hopefully I gave you some peace Luna…” he muttered quietly. His gaze drifted from his hand to the face of his machine. If this was the existence of GBN, to live and die for mere amusement, then perhaps it was time to carve something else out of it all? Aker licked his lips at that notion and hesitantly brought up his menu. He slowly keyed in a few commands and paused as he came to a fateful option. Would it be alright dragging his two comrades into his own personal agenda? He pressed the button and closed the menu, crossing his right arm over his body again. They had the choice to leave his world, maybe it was time to broaden their perspectives on GBN if they were intent on sticking around?

[Judge 221]

Icarus almost cried out loud when he saw Wade make his move, incapacitating the Wing Zero without killing the pilot within. That was something that Icarus needed to improve on. It was so easy for him to think of this as a game and take the lethal option, but now that he knew that people like Aker existed…

The smile faded from his face as he turned his attention towards the battle between his comrade and the Altron, just in time to see the Jager slice the Gundam to pieces but abstain from a killing blow. And as the shuttle beyond them disappeared in the atmosphere, the words “Mission Accomplished” sprang to the screen.

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED

Fleurs de Noblesse - 80000 Credits

Spared Enemy Bonus x3 (3000 Credits)

Wade –

Unlocked: Red OZ Officer’s Uniform

Unlocked for Printing: 1/144 Twin Buster Cannon

Badge: The Heart of Space and Time (+5000 Credits)

Aker –

Unlocked: Blue OZ Officer’s Uniform

Unlocked for Printing: 1/144 Twin Beam Scythe

Badge: The God of Death (+3000 Credits)

Icarus -

Unlocked: Green OZ Officer’s Uniform

Badge: Raberba Winner (+1000 Credits)

 

That makes sense, I did do the least. Icarus nodded to himself and let out a deep sigh as outer space faded away around them and was replaced by their home away from how, the offshore oil rig. A short distance away he could see Wade, but Aker was nowhere to be found.

“Hey,” he said to Wade. “You see where he went by any chance?” Icarus had a tight feeling in his gut. Maybe this mission had pushed Aker too far? If so, he would be the one to blame—he had chosen this particular quest for them. He thought that a hard plus mission would be fine for them, but he hadn’t truly taken Aker’s situation into consideration, it seemed.

“Damn it,” he spat, under his breath. Then he folded his arms, shook his head, and looked at his young leader. “I’m a huge idiot, Wade,”

[FrostyFoster 451]

With Aker finishing his own target, the three were transported away from their completed mission back to the oil rig. Or were they? Once Wade's feet were planted on cold, slightly damp metal, only Icarus was near him. "Strange." He thought, glancing up to the Local Type, now under repair. "I wonder where he ended up." His teammate wondered the same thing. Wade turned to Icarus with a perplexed look.

"No, I'm not sure." He responded to his teammate, pulling up his menu to contact him. Seeing the new print unlock enticed the Fleurs leader. A weapon like that would definitely give him an advantage in battle. Navigating to his friend list, Wade stopped as he heard what his teammate stated. "What?! You're not an idiot." Walking up to the taller diver, Wade wondered more about what he did wrong than anything else. "We won the battle. If anything, I'm the idiot." He realized that he had no clue what transpired with Aker's battles during the mission. "I should've played it smarter and safer... but I'm sure Aker's fine. He probably logged-"

Knowing that wasn't possible for his team member, he stopped. "Well, yeah." Wade put his hand behind his head and sighed. "I guess I don't know, but don't blame this on yourself. He lives a very different life from us."

Edited October 27, 2020 by FrostyFoster

[Hunter]

((group collaboration, great job guys!))

-Icarus sighed and shook his head. "I suggested we do this mission without really thinking about the consequences. I should've stayed behind with Luna and defended the shuttle, maybe then she wouldn't have gotten shot down." The diver looked out over the water, then turned back to his comrade "you did great though, there was no way Zechs could have seen you coming" he tried to offer Wade a reassuring smile, but Aker's whereabouts weighed heavily on his mind.

- “It’s not your fault. I told Luna to go there anyways. NPD or not, she should’ve known better than to die like that.” Wade pulled the menu again, going through the rent section to find the ZAFT pilot. Her picture still appeared among the others. “I’m just getting paranoid.” He thought, telling himself that not every character in the game was like Aker. Hoping to change the subject, Wade had an idea. “Hey, we just got all this cash. Let’s spruce up the place!”

- "I mean, she was up against some significant odds...and we didn't pay much for h--" Icarus caught his words and choked them back. "You know what? Forget I said anything. What kind of sprucing up did you have in mind, boss?" Icarus put a hand to his chin and tried to think of the things they needed. "Maybe some new furniture, or some rooms, or--oh! Do you think we..." Icarus felt a flash of embarrassment colour his cheeks. 'Is there like a robot dog or something we can get for the base?"

- “I’m so glad you asked.” Wade smirked. A quick trip led them to one of the bigger shops in GBN. The shopping mall was filled with tons or variety. Clothes, food, and for them, furniture and pets. “Oh man! Where do we even begin?” The two were closest to the furniture store, a massive establishment filled with a multitude of Gundam related and original designs. However, Wade’s attention was taken by the pet. “I know where I’m going!” The Diver ran through a crowd of Divers to get to the entrance, but completely forgot about Icarus, leaving him near the furniture store.

- Icarus was stunned by the shopping centre that Wade led him to. He didn't even know a place like this existed in GBN. "It's huge..." he said, spinning in a small circle as he tried to take it all in. Then, Wade took off like a rocket "Uh, hey, wait!" Icarus cried, trying to follow after. When at last he finally caught up, he was panting. "Don't just run off like that...oh? What's this?"

- “Woah!” There was a multitude of  pets, from differing colors of the Birdy robot, a staggering collection of Haro toys, to normal cats and dogs. Wade was amazed that such a minor part of GBN could be so extravagant. The Diver didn’t even know where to start .

- "Woah," Icarus said as he took in the myriad pets lining the shop "I never thought there would be this many choices...look," he walked across the store and knelt down next to a miniature orange robot. "Its a fun-sized Lagowe" he said, patting what would otherwise be a fearsome mobile armor on the head and watching it prance happily, shooting confetti out of it's back mounted cannons. "Man, the future is now, huh?" He turned back to Wade and smiled. "This guy's pretty cute, seems he comes in different colors too...and maybe we should grab a Haro too, who knows what we could do with one of those. Do you think Aker would mind? I don't know if he strikes me as a pet guy,"

- Wade thought back to his former teammates Haro, remembering how troublesome it could be. “Let’s just... go with the little LaGOWE.” Thankfully, it wasn’t crazy expensive, so the Diver immediately purchased the “dog”. He too wondered whether or not Aker would like it, but it was too late. “Alright buddy.” Wade reached down to pick their new pet up, but it felt just as heavy as a real LaGOWE to him as he struggled. The LaGOWE stood there, spraying more confetti as Wade gave up. “Alright, just follow us for now.”

- "Sounds good to me," Icarus said as he watched Wade try to pick the little machine up and promptly give up. Back on the ground, as the two divers began to move on, the LaGOWE flipped on its treads and sped along beside them. "Where to next? It seems like there's so much to choose from..." a thought occured to Icarus "do Forces usually wear uniforms? Is that something we need to look into?" He was still dressed in the Extended flight suit, which, while he liked it, kind of clashed with his teammates' more casual looks.

- Wade thought about it for a bit. Some of the higher level Diver Forces wore uniforms, but most didn’t. However, the Diver knew that if they wanted to be known, they’d have to be perceived as a team and not loners. “We could. What would we wear though?”He recalled their team name. “Something related to flowers or the three musketeers?”

- Icarus looked around for a costume shop and, seeing a giant neon sign in the shape of Char's helmet, figured that would be his best bet. "Come with me," he said, leading Wade and the LaGOWE towards the store. Once there, he turned to his team mate and nodded. "Let me dream something up and tell me what you think, alright? Be honest with me if it's too much," the older diver turned on his heel and went into the store. He spent a long while fiddling with menus, shaders, and sliders, until at last he had something. 

The uniform that Icarus dreamt up two-fold, a more formal dress as well as a set of matching normal suits should they decide to switch things up. The formal wear was primarily black with soft pink highlights and was accessorized with a short cape similar to those of the Zeon officer's uniform, slashed with a decorative pattern evoking flowers. Dark grey knee high-boots and long gloves finished, as well as matching boots finished off the look. The normal suit version was fairly standard, sharing the colouration of the formal wear. 

"It's a little bit Zeon and a little bit OZ...maybe a splash of Gjallarhorn," Icarus said at last. "It might be too formal though...and I wish we had our third member here to give his input--making a decision like this is tough,"

- Aker materialized in the lounge of the oil rig. At first he was confused by the vacancy at the force nest. He was still upset but realized nothing productive could come from wallowing around alone. Letting out a deep sigh as he resigned to find his comrades. Opening his menu and found them both shopping in one of the many GBN stores. Shrugging he decided to join them. 

A short moment later he materialized next to the rest of Fleurs de Noblesse. He didn’t think the duo noticed him so he cleared his throat as he looked at the clothes Icarus was suggesting. “Uniforms?” He asked sheepishly.

-Icarus was initially surprised to see Aker appear, and with such good timing too, but his mild surprise quickly turned to a soft smile. "Yeah, what do you think? I figured since we're a team and all, we ought to dress like one," Icarus fought hard to not devolve into a string of apologies. Seeing Aker in front of him, he doubted greatly that bringing up what had just happened would do any of them any kind of good. What Aker needed was a distraction, and when the EL-diver was ready, he would come to his team-mates in his own time. The little LaGOWE walked up to their newly arrived team-mate and sniffed at its leg before letting out a series of mechanical barks, punctuated with a confetti salvo. "Oh," Icarus said. "That reminds me, this is our newest member...he doesn't have a name yet,"

-Icarus’ statement made Wade realize they missed the most important part of a pet. “That’s right! We gotta name it.” Wade knelt down to the orange robot and pondered. “Hmm. Cosmic? Walter? Sandy?”

-Aker jumped slightly as the confetti pelted him, he turned to regard the robotic pet. Despite himself, Aker smiled down at the robot and let out a soft chuckle. He knelt down next to Wade and eagerly reached out to stroke the head of the mini machine. “Walt seems a bit ironic doesn’t it?” He asked his teammates, looking back at Icarus. Aker’s tone was quiet if not exactly normal but his small grin showed he wasn’t entirely shutting them out. His left hand limply lay on the floor as he knelt inspecting the pet. 

- "What about Tora...that's tiger in Japanese I think," Icarus said, scratching his head. "Or, heck, we could just call him Tiger or something. You know, I've never had a pet before, so I've never had to name one, it's tough," Icarus turned his attention back to the uniform for a second. It seemed the real important decision took precedence.

- Wade really liked the sound of Tora. “I think we’ve found ourselves a name. Tora rolls right off the tongue.” The Diver also turned back to look at the uniforms. “But yeah, we seem to be struggling on what we could wear. I’d at least want to figure out our pilot suits. Any ideas?”

-As the robot nuzzled Aker’s hand he mused our loud, “Tora… that certainly has a ring to it. I like it.” Wade’s follow up question had Aker looking up at his teammate. He stood up, scratching his head as he thought. He looked back at the proposals Icarus made and nodded, “I like your ideas. It occurred to me when I was fighting Trieze that we need to conduct ourselves according to our namesake, dressing the part ought to help.” Aker turned on his heel to look at wade and bowed, his left arm dangling from the act, “I’m sorry for not acting accordingly in that battle.” 

-Wade chuckled and rubbed the back of his head again. “Oh, oh it’s fine. I wasn’t really doing that great of a job leading anyways.” The Diver glanced at all that was in stock. “But, we still won a pretty tough match. That’s why we’re celebrating, in a way.”

-"Right, Tora it is. As for the Uniforms...maybe we add a little more colour, a tabard instead of a cape...let's see..." In the end, Icarus's edits looked more evocative of a classical musketeer's uniform, minus the big hats. His example included a tabard in a soft rose colour, lined with black and adorned with a stylized black rose in the centre. Beneath the loose fabric was a white shirt with baggy sleeves, and slim-legged white pants. He kept the longer boots and gloves, making them black as well. "And of course, an optional sword on the belt," he said, finally, showing his reworking to the rest of the squad. "The normal suits I modeled after the Wing pilot suits, towards the end of the series, of course using whatever colours we prefer with the addition of the chest plate on the Celestial Being suits." 

Icarus rubbed the back of his head. "Of course, if you don't like either options, we can always just get some cool jackets," he chuckled slightly.

-"Hmmm." Wade pondered for a while. "I like the pilot suits, Wing did have some cool ones, but I wonder if the classy outfits would clash with our... lovely abode." The Diver felt the formality was a bit much for his tastes, but he didn't want to lose the motif completely. Since their mobile suits were differing colors, Wade also went with a primarily black and white scheme, this time including a more modern zipped up jacket and pants, mainly black with white decor. It seemed more conserved, but Wade pulled up one more part of the costume for the others. "If we do need to look more regal, we can put on these." A cloth cover, with a very ornate design, was laid over the outfit, almost like a cape or tabard. However, the main accessory was the large thin brimmed hat with Mashmyre's rose kept to the side. "The flower can be changed to our respective mobile suit colors, that way there's a bit a difference."

-Aker nodded his approval at the discussion about uniforms. Wade’s idea complemented, by the tones Icarus was suggesting, seemed to make a lot of sense. “I like it, similar yet with a flair of individuality.” The jacket wade suggested reminded Aker of a zeon uniform in a way, and it looked like it bridged the gap between ornate and utilitarian nicely. “I like the cloth design.” Aker kept nodding his head more firmly now. “Great ideas boss.” 

-"Then I guess it's settled!" With a couple of button presses on his menu, the Diver was now wearing his own black jacket. "We'll wear the hat and stuff once we get invited to the big events!" Wade was only somewhat confident in this statement. While the team did have quality members and had just beaten a difficult mission, their Force Rank would need to continue rising, mostly by beating other Diver Forces. Real players normally had more skill than an NPD though.

-"I like it, Wade," Icarus nodded. "Seems you're a quick hand at fashion." The three of them went on with their shopping for quite some time, purchasing a myriad of things to upgrade their Nest, as well as some personal items here and there. All the while, Tora zipped along on his treads, barking happily and mechanically. At last, when it was decided that they had shopped 'til they dropped, the three of  them sat down at small rest area, chatting idly. Icarus was sure that none of them had really forgotten about their mission earlier that day, but there and then, as they sat talking to each other, the diver was confident that even in the face of a challenge such as this, the three of them would prevail. Icarus smiled warmly as he looked at his teammates chatting. One day, they might just be one of the greatest Forces in the game.